Some Social Considerations in the Female Portraits of Palma Vecchio
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University of Louisville ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository Electronic Theses and Dissertations 12-2004 Some social considerations in the female portraits of Palma Vecchio. Sarah Elizabeth Fruehling 1977- University of Louisville Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.library.louisville.edu/etd Recommended Citation Fruehling, Sarah Elizabeth 1977-, "Some social considerations in the female portraits of Palma Vecchio." (2004). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 466. https://doi.org/10.18297/etd/466 This Master's Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository. This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has retained all other copyrights. For more information, please contact [email protected]. SOME SOCIAL CONSIDERATIONS IN "THE FEMALE PORTRA][TS OF PALMA VECCHIO Bv.' Sarah Elizabeth Fruehling B.A., Mount Vernon Nazarene College, 2000 A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of LouisvlHe in partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the De!:,:rree of Master of Arts Department of Art History University of Louisville Loui :sville, Kentucky December 2004 SOME SOCIAL CONSIDERATIONS IN THE FEMALE PORTRAITS OF PALMA VECCHIO By Sarah Elizabeth Fruehling B.A., Mount Vernon Nazarene College, 2000 A Thesis Approved on December 3,2004 by the following Thesis Committee: Thesis Director 11 DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to my parents Rev. and Mrs. Robert & Paula Fruehling. With your enduring love and support I have accomplished many things. Without it I \vould have never endeavored to take this journey. 1II ACKNOWLEDGiv1ENTS I would like to thank my professor, advisor, and thesis director Dr. Christopher Fulton, who has seen me through this journey to its fruition. Thank you for your patienoe and guidance, Dr. Fulton. To my famiIy and friends lowe many thanks for the support and love given through the tough times and the long nights. Thank you to the members of my filmily and friends in Ohio and California: Mom and Dad, Brother Andy, Grandma Riley, Uncle Byron and Aunt Laura, Uncle Doug., Tirn and Karen Jensen and Trisha Grose. To my wonderful friends who reside in Louisville, Kentucky: Tom and Wendy Doyon, Jennifer Gruber, Dayne Gardner, Flint Collins, Blair Arsenaux, and Donna Moros. r would also like to thank my wondl;:rful1y caring and colorful neighbors, Dawn Muncie, Steve Burton, and Bridget Dattilo, and to Samuel J. Kat who is my constant companion and friend. IV ABSTRACT SOME SOCIAL CONSIDERATIONS IN THE FEMALE PORTRAITS OF PALMA VECCHIO Sarah E F ruehling December 3, 2004 This thesis is an investigation into the world of sixteenth-century Venice, encompassing a group ofti;!male p0l1raits by artist Palma Vecchio. 1 utilized many primary and secondary sources concerning Renaissance society, including several which discussed the roles of women during the Renaissance. This thesis is divided into four chapters that discuss the purpose and evolution of the female portrait, ideal poetic beauty, and the authority the courtesan carried in both the poetry and the painting in Venice. Chapter one covers a short history of the portrait as well as an investigation of how the female portrait evolved from the profile image to the frontal three-quarter image. It also discusses hO\v Palma Vecchio would have adhered to the early concepts of the portrait, yet came to depict women in a idealized fashion that came to be the Renaissance Venetian artist's specialty. Chapter two explores the issue of poetic beauty upon the paintings of Palma Vecchio and its birth from the Humanist movement, as started by the fourteenth-century poet Petrarch, Chapter three discusses the role of the courtesan predominately in Venice. An educated and sophisticated woman who sold sexual favors, performed a considerable role in the world or the female portrait in Venice, particularly the images by Palma Vecchio. Chapter four, the conclusion, concretizes the issues of v ideai poetic feminine beauty, the courtesan in female portraiture, and how these two factors carried an enonllOUS role not only in the female portraits of Palma Vecchio, but in the social fabric of Venice. VI TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOW1,EDGtv1ENTS ...................................................... ............................. iv ABST~J\CT. ......................................................................................................... v TABLE OF CONTENTS ..................................................................................... vli LIST Of FIGURES ....... vm n,JTRODU(~TION .......................................................................................... , .. _.. 1 Cl IAPTER I........................................................................................ ," ................ 4 Cf1APTER 11. ........................................................................................................ 20 C·!-1.A.PTER Hr. ....................................................................................................... 34 CHAPTER IV. ......................... .. lrvi"A.. GES ................................................. ,............ ,................................................. 58 REFERENCES ......................................................................................................... 84 CURRICULUM VIiAE ....................................................................................... 90 " VII LIST OF fIGURES FIGURES PAGE 1. Palma Vecchio. Portrait ofa Woman Called 'La Bella', 1518-20. Oil on Canvas, 90x80 cm Lugano-Castagnola Collection, Thyssen Bomenisza ..... 54 2. Palma Vecchio. Portrait (?la Woman in Prrdlle, c. 1520-25. Oil on Canvas, 49x42.4 cm. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.................................... 55 3. Domenico Ghirlandaio Portrait (?lGiovanna degli Alhi;;:;i Tornaouoni, c. 1488-90. Tempera on panel, 77 x 49 em. Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid................................................................................. 56 4. Leonardo da Vinei. Fortrait (~lGinevra de Hellei, 1474-78. Oil on panel, 38.1 x 37 em. National Gallery of Art, Washington, nc. ........... 57 5. Leonardo da Vinci. Portrait ofCecilia Gallerani (Lady Yl'ith f:rminej, l489-90. Oil on panel. Krakow, Princes Czartoryski Foundation ...................... 58 6. Titian, Portrait ({a Woman Called J~a Bella, 1536. Oil on canvas. Galleria Plttt, Florence.......... .......... .......................... ................................. 59 7. Palma Vecchio. Portrait ola 1-Yaman Called j'flOlante, 1516-18. Oil on canvas, 64.S x SO.8 cm. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna..................... 60 8. Palma Vecchio. Portrait oia Wuman in Blue, 1512-14. Oil on canvas, 63.S x 51 ern. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna ........................ 61 9. Tullio Lombardo. Portrait Bw.t ola Woman, 1520. Marble. Private Collection ................................................................................................... 62 10. Bronzino. Porfrait ojLauTa Baffijerri, 1558. Oil on panel, 83 x 60 cm. Palazzo Vecchio, Fiorence ................................................................. 63 11. Raphael. Detail from C;aia/ea, c. 1518. Fres.co~ Villa Farnesina~ Ronle ...................................................................................................................... 64 Vlll 12 Palma Vecchio Portrait (~fa Woman Called Flora, 1522-24. Oil on panel, 77 x 64 cm. National Gallery, London ... .... ".65 13. Titian. Portrmt ola Woman Called Flora. c. ] 516-18. Oil on canvas. Gallerie degli Uffizi, Florence ............ " .. " ...................................... 66 14. Paris Bordon. Portrait of a Woman Called Flora, 16th century. Oil on canvas, 103 x 85 cm. Musee du Louvre, Paris ............................................ 67 15. Veronese. Leda and the S\van, 16th century. Oil on canvas .......................... 68 16. Marcantonio Raimondi. !.eda and the Swun. 1520. Engraving, ..................... 69 17. Titian. Danae and the Golden Shower, c. 1545. Oil on canvas, Prado Museum, Madrid ......................................................................................... 70 18. Giulio di Antonio Bonasone. Danue, 1545. Engraving .................................. 71 19. Giorgione. Sleepmg Venus (Dresden Venus). 1510. Oil on panel, Staatliche GemaJdegalerie, Dresden........................................................................ 72 20. Titian. Venus (~f(Jrbino. 1538. Oil on panel, Gallery degJi Uffizi, Florence ............................................................................. 73 21. Bernardino Licinio. Reclming Venus, 16th century, Temporarily at the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence........................................................................... 74 22. Tintoretto. Portrait of Veronica Franco, c. J 575. Oil on canvas, Worcester Art Museum, Worcester" Massachusetts ............................................. 75 23. Palma Vecchio. Portrait ofa vVoman I1l ith a Bared Breast. 1524-26. Oil on panel, 79.1 x 62.2 cm. Gemaldegalerie, Berlin (Dahlem} ............................ 76 24. Raphael. La Fomarina, c. i 515. Oil on canvas, 34" x 25.5". Palazzo Barbarini, Rome ......................................................................................... 77 25. Palma Vecchio(Titian). Portrail (~ta Woman